


Kindling hope

by boxofwonder



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: M/M, feh broke into my home burned my crops and broke my heart, im in shambles, spoilers for story chapter 13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 15:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12112035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxofwonder/pseuds/boxofwonder
Summary: After Alfonse learns of his friend's secret, there is one last promise to make before he can let Zacharias go.





	Kindling hope

**Author's Note:**

> Made the mistake of playin' the new story at midnight before sleep.  
> Needless to say I got back up and vented out my feelings. Goddammit, Heroes.

“Just a second,” Alfonse bites out, and he runs before anyone can stop him, feet pounding into the ground the only thing grounding him as his heart bleeds, and bleeds, and bleeds.

Zacharias had never betrayed them. He had been betrayed, he had been robbed of the chance to stay with them.

It is unjust. Alfonse will not accept it. “ZACHARIAS!”

Neither Sharena, nor Anna storm after him to drag him back. Perhaps they know, Kiran included. Only Zacharias does not. He does not, and Alfonse feels like crying, but he knows when he gets back he will tear apart every single multiverse finding that grain of sand. Bringing Zacharias hope. _Freeing_ him.

“Zacharias.” He's panting, his lungs burning. Alfonse feels like he did not run, but attempted to fly. Petulantly, desperately, he grasps Zacharias' ankle before he can mount his horse entirely. “Please. A second longer. I need to speak with you.”

That unreadable, masked face turns towards him.

Somewhere beneath is Bruno.

The one who had spent summer days sitting with them in the grass, the one Sharena taught how to pick flowers and weave crowns. He had been terrible at it, at first, but he had tried for weeks. The moment he had completed the first ring of flowers, Alfonse had clapped his hands in delight – and his heart had stopped, when Bruno had leaned over and crowned him with it. For that moment, Alfonse had forgotten dignity, subtlety. He had stared, lips agape, and reached up to gently touch the petals in his hair, for fear he may have touched Zacharias' little smile otherwise.

They were rare, his smiles. Then Zacharias had turned to Sharena and promised hers was up next, utterly at ease, and as soon as he was off to pick more daisies, Sharena had given Alfonse the _look,_ and his cheeks had burned while his heart had danced.

That very same Bruno is beneath that mask.

Zacharias now, but still the same person. Someone who would have rather provoked them into murdering him, than risk hurting them. Who had been banished from his own kingdom, and could not help heeding its cursed call.

It is so unfair, tears threaten to prick his eyes. Of frustration, of despair, of _longing._ “Please,” Alfonse says again.

“Not alone.”

“If you turn on me, I will kill you.”

Zacharias sighs. “You will not. You would never kill me.”

“Please,” Alfonse says again. He's begging now, and he doesn't care. “As soon as you lose control, I will turn and run. You know Kiran's power, right? They won't let anything bad happen.”

“I'd rather walk from here as the man you know,” Zacharias says, his voice surprisingly fragile. But he slides from his mare, one hand on her neck, as if to ground himself. “Speak, and do it fast, foolish prince.”

Alfonse wants to embrace him. He wants to bury his face at Zacharias' chest and breathe. But he cannot.

“Just one question.” His breath shudders from him, words fail him. So much Alfonse needs to say, or he will choke on it, and yet, no time to. All he can think to do is to reach up, lifting the mask from Zacharias' face. His hands come up in protest, but shy away from touching Alfonse, and he lets it happen.

Alfonse has no words for what it feels like, to look into Bruno's – Zacharias' – eyes again.

His friend looks away, expression raw and vulnerable. Has he always looked like this, beneath the mask?

“Please,” Alfonse says, voice trembling. “When I break your curse – when we do -”

“If,” Zacharias corrects.

Alfonse tilts his head to look at him, resolve burning. “ _When,_ ” he says, alight with conviction. “As soon as we do. Will you come home?”

 _To me?_ he does not say. It would be selfish. After all, Sharena loves him, too. And Bruno – _Zacharias,_ he loves all of them.

He had – has! - a home with them. He will always have.

“Do not make me -” Zacharias begs, his voice choked with pain.

“I need to know,” Alfonse insists. “I will do everything I can to save you – but selfishly, I -”

“I never knew happiness before your sister and you extended your hands to me.” It is a truth delivered so humbly that it knocks Alfonse breathless. Wordless.

And now that he has spoken, it is as if Zacharias cannot stop. “I was looking at your sleeping face, you know.” He worries at his lips, but does not waste more than a second with silence. His words grow faster, gain momentum, as if he finally needs to speak them. “I was marvelling at how peaceful you looked. I wanted to – pull you close. I wanted to -” He breaks off there, but it is enough to make Alfonse's heart race.

How many nights had he spent looking at Zacharias in the dark, or thinking of him if he was not close by?

(Are they the same?)

But Zacharias' open expression freezes, a mask falling across it that is entirely of Zacharias' own doing. “Instead, I lost my mind. One second, I yearned, and the next, my hands were around your throat. Do you not understand? I would rather _die_ than bring you harm.”

Alfonse refuses to cry, when Zacharias manages not to.

“I will free you.” Alfonse is already tugging off his glove before his mind registers what he is doing. “So, please – p-pull me close, then. Come home as soon as you can.” He drops his glove into the grass, and twists a golden ring from his finger, a small, clear jewel set into it.

The wedding band his father forged when he, a foolish villager, asked for the hand of the queen. A ring entirely unmarked by its connection to Askr.

It is only fitting to give it away now. Like this.

“Carry this with you. My promise. When you lose hope – find it in this. We will fight for you. We will free you, and your family. You are never alone. And home is waiting.” He barely has time left, so Alfonse does not think – as he closes Zacharias' fingers around the ring, limp with bewilderment, Alfonse goes up on his tiptoes and presses a clumsy kiss to Zacharias' cheek.

Then he steps back, heart still racing. Terrified his gift will be dropped into the grass and left behind. If he has to watch Zacharias leave, once more, knowing something that was warmed by his own skin just shortly ago with Zacharias would ease that.

“I -” Zacharias begins, and then he groans, holding his temple. His whole body shudders.

Not yet. No – just a second longer -

“Take it,” Alfonse begs. Their time is up.

Zacharias shoves the ring onto his finger and jerks to turn, then hesitates. He moves lightning-quick, his rough palms grasping Alfonse's cheeks, warm and steady. Alfonse lets him tilt his head, feels the press of his full lips, a sensation of home, of being lost, of praying to be found.

And then Zacharias is gone, along with the mask Alfonse had clung to still, and all he can do is stare as Zacharias urges on his mare, faster and faster. They gallop away, swallowed by the distance, every second making Alfonse's heart burn worse.

It is unjust. It is cruel, that hands that are so warm, a heart so kind, and eyes so lonely have all the chances of finding luck and good taken away by something as _blood._ As a crazy god.

Alfonse touches his lips, aware that his sister, their summoner, and their commander are watching him. But all he can think is this: if he will have to fight a war against a god, for Zacharias, he will succeed. For the good of their ravaged kingdom. The royal family. The citizens, and for his own country.

For Zacharias' own promise, entirely made in that one touch. For everything Alfonse holds dear, and everything he stands for.

Alfonse stands and stares until Zacharias is gone, entirely so, swallowed by the horizon. Then he sinks to his knees, and buries his face in his hands. Right now, he would give anything for tears to relieve the crushing despair he feels, but they won't come, only a headache pounding behind his temples.

Then, strong arms wrap around him from behind. Sharena buries her nose at his shoulder, and through their embrace, he can feel her body shake with her tears. “I'm here,” she says. “We'll save him.” Her voice breaks. Sharena cries, enough for both of them. Just as she trusts enough for both of them. Alfonse finds comfort in that. He covers her hands on his chest with his own and clings to his sister as they both mourn for their lost friend, and even for their sworn enemy. A young girl, bound to the same curse.

It is only fair to carry a share of their grief. As the royal siblings of a country that is kind, and patient, and welcoming. How fortunate they are.

Sharena frees her left hand, lacing her gloves fingers with his bare ones, brushing the empty spot where the ring used to sit.

She knows. They all do. “We'll save him,” she repeats, her voice heavy with tears, and heavy with her resolve.

“We will,” Alfonse says, much weaker. His resolve is set in his heart, harder than diamond, truer than the rise of the sun in the morning. Right now, he is barely a man just yet, clinging to his sister for his broken heart. Tomorrow he will be a prince, a leader, a saviour.

Right now, he is grateful when Anna and Kiran sink down to their left and right, Anna's hand on Sharena's shoulder, Kiran's on Alfonse's.

He is not alone, and neither is Zacharias.

At least now, he knows that.

And right now, that has to be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Let Zacharias and Veronica be happy 2kforever.  
> I AM IN RUINS!!!


End file.
